Report to Congressional Requesters

United States General Accounting Office

GAO

December 2001 MILITARY

PERSONNEL

First-Term Personnel

Less Satisfied With

Military Life Than

Those in Mid-Career

GAO-02-200
Page i GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Letter 1

Results in Brief 2

Background 3

Agency Comments 4

Scope and Methodology 4

Briefing Section I Overall Satisfaction With Military Life and Retention

Intentions 8

Briefing Section II Relationship of Servicemembers’ Initial Reasons for

Joining the Military to Retention Intent 14

Briefing Section III Reasons Cited for Leaving the Military 20

Briefing Section IV Servicemembers’ Perceptions of Civilian Life

Relative to Military Life 24

Appendix I Recent Reports Concerning DOD’s 1999 Survey of

Active Duty Personnel 28

Appendix II Comments From the Department of Defense 29

Appendix III Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 30

Tables

Table 1: Most Frequently Cited Reasons for Joining the Military 14

Table 2: Most Frequently Cited Reasons for Leaving or Considering

Leaving the Military 20

Contents
Page ii GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Table 3: Recent Reports Concerning DOD’s 1999 Survey of Active

Duty Personnel 28
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December 7, 2001

The Honorable John M. McHugh

Chairman

The Honorable Vic Snyder

Ranking Minority Member

Subcommittee on Military Personnel

Committee on Armed Services

House of Representatives

Identifying and retaining the right mix of highly skilled personnel are top

priorities for the Department of Defense (DOD). While the military

services report that they are generally meeting their goals for the retention

of aggregate numbers of personnel, measuring retention based on

aggregate numbers potentially masks variations in retention by specific

career stages and pay grades and only partially measures DOD’s ability to

retain adequate numbers of qualified personnel. DOD remains concerned

about retention of personnel who are nearing the end of their first term

and personnel in key mid-career stages.

Congress has sought reliable information about the quality of life of

servicemembers, and it is generally believed that satisfaction with military

life is a factor in retaining the people needed. In response to your request

for this information, we analyzed data from DOD’s broad-based 1999

Survey of Active Duty Personnel. Specifically, we examined survey data on

first-term enlisted personnel—those in their initial term of enlistment with

less than 6 years of service—as well as both enlisted personnel and

officers in mid-career—which included those with less than 13 years of

service that were not serving an initial enlistment or obligation. For these

three groups, we analyzed survey responses to determine (1) overall

satisfaction with military life and retention intentions, (2) initial reasons

for joining the military and their relationship to servicemembers’ intent to

remain in the military, (3) reasons servicemembers cited for considering

leaving active duty, and (4) perceptions of civilian life relative to military

life. It is important to note that the economy has slowed and that the

military has received significant pay raises since the survey was

administered in 1999. And, the terrorist attacks on September 11th may

have an impact on a servicemember’s decision to stay in or leave the

military. In response to the terrorist attacks and the subsequent military

action, DOD authorized the services to enact stop-loss procedures,

allowing the services to retain individuals on active duty beyond their date

of separation, delaying planned retirements and discharges.

United States General Accounting Office

Washington, DC 20548
Page 2 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Briefing sections I-IV contain specific data and our observations on the

servicemembers’ responses to the survey.

Satisfaction with military life and retention intent increase as personnel

gain seniority. First-term enlisted personnel were more dissatisfied

(41 percent) than satisfied (35 percent) with the overall military way of

life. In addition, only 29 percent of first-term enlisted personnel reported

that they were likely to stay on active duty, and relatively few (14 percent)

reported that they envisioned serving a 20-year career. However,

mid-career personnel were more satisfied than dissatisfied with the

military way of life. More specifically, 52 percent of mid-career enlisted

personnel and 62 percent of mid-career officers were satisfied, while only

23 percent and 20 percent, respectively, were dissatisfied. In addition, both

mid-career enlisted personnel and officers reported that they were more

likely than unlikely to stay on active duty (62 percent and 63 percent,

respectively). And, mid-career enlisted personnel and officers reported

that they were more likely than unlikely to serve 20 years (63 percent and

66 percent, respectively).

Retention intent is related to the reasons that first-term and mid-career

personnel joined the military. Among the top reasons that first-term

enlisted personnel cited for joining were education benefits (43 percent)

and training for civilian employment (18 percent). Those who cited these

reasons indicated that they were less likely to stay on active duty than

those who entered for other reasons, such as personal growth or travel

and experiences. This is understandable because personnel often leave

active duty to use their education benefits, such as the Montgomery GI

Bill, or to take full-time civilian employment. For mid-career personnel,

the desire to serve their country emerged as one of the top reasons for

joining, and these personnel reported that they were more likely to serve

20 years than those who entered the military for other reasons. Mid-career

enlisted personnel that joined for education benefits and mid-career

officers that joined for training for a specific occupation—reasons that

allow personnel to potentially transfer a skill gained in the military to the

civilian sector—reported that they were more likely to leave the military.

Dissatisfaction with the military way of life is also related to reasons that

personnel cited for leaving the military. On DOD’s 1999 survey, active duty

service personnel rated their satisfaction with 37 aspects of the military

and identified which of the aspects were the most important reasons for

leaving or considering leaving the military. The primary reasons

servicemembers cited for leaving or considering leaving the military were

Results in Brief
Page 3 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

their basic pay, the amount of personal/family time, and the quality of

leadership. While personnel that were dissatisfied with these three factors

were generally less inclined to stay in the military than those that were

satisfied, no single factor, alone, was a good predictor of retention intent.

The best overall predictor of retention for first- term enlisted and midcareer personnel was overall satisfaction with the military way of life.

In 1999, military personnel perceived that many aspects of civilian life

would be better than their experiences in the military. About 70 percent

(or more for some aspects) of servicemembers believed that civilians were

compensated better and had a better quality of life. Servicemembers did

view some aspects of their military life more favorably relative to civilian

life, including vacation time, sense of accomplishment and pride, and

education and training opportunities. However, servicemembers’

perceptions may have changed since the survey was administered in 1999

due to a slowing economy and significant recent pay raises.

We have recently reported on several personnel issues based on the

results of DOD’s 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel. In March 2000, we

testified on the preliminary results of the survey.1

 At that time, we reported

that the retention decision was a complex, highly personal decision.

Servicemembers base their decision to stay in or leave the military on their

overall experiences, as well as their perceptions of military and civilian

opportunities. DOD personnel have recently received pay and other

allowance increases, which were requested by the Department to help

retain its service personnel. However, across-the-board pay and allowance

increases do little to address specific retention problems because these

problems are often focused in certain occupations, career stages, and

grades. In May 2001, we reported that increasing the housing allowance

alone would do little to increase retention because, among other reasons,

less than 1 percent of servicemembers cited housing allowances as a top

reason to leave the military.2

 In June 2001, we reported that, based on their

military experiences, enlisted personnel in retention-critical occupations

did not intend to leave the military at a greater rate than did other enlisted

personnel. However, to the extent that personnel possess marketable

 1 Military Personnel: Preliminary Results of DOD’s 1999 Survey of Active Duty Members

(GAO/T-NSIAD-00-110, Mar. 8, 2000).

2 Military Personnel: Higher Allowances Should Increase Use of Civilian Housing, but

Not Retention (GAO-01-684, May 31, 2001).

Background
Page 4 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

skills, they would be more likely to leave the military for more attractive

civilian opportunities.3

 Appendix I provides a summary of our recent

reports based on the findings from DOD’s 1999 Survey of Active Duty

Personnel.

Any discussion of military retention must be put into the context of the

way that the military seeks to shape its workforce. Basically, because the

military needs a youthful, vigorous force, it has traditionally allowed only a

small portion of enlistees to stay for a 20-year career. Historical data

provided by DOD indicate that about 15 percent of a typical group of new

enlistees and 47 percent of new officers continue in the military for a full

20-year career. DOD managers have access to a variety of workforce

shaping and development tools for retaining the most qualified personnel.

For example, the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980

provides part of the legislative framework for how DOD affects the shape

of the force. This, in effect, creates an “up-or-out” system. Officers

progress in a group determined by the year of their commissioning and

largely compete for promotion to the next higher grade with other

members of the group at set points based on years of service. Also, after a

certain number of years and depending on their grades, officers twice

passed over for promotion are to be separated from active service or

retired, if eligible. In addition, the act specifies the number of officers

allowed in upper grades.

We provided a draft of this report to the Office of the Secretary of Defense

for comment. The Department concurred with our report. The

Department noted that servicemembers’ retention intent can change over

time and that retention intent and actual retention behavior are

imperfectly correlated. The Department’s comments appear in appendix II.

The data used in this briefing report were derived from DOD’s 1999 Survey

of Active Duty Personnel, which we worked with the Department to

design. It was mailed in the fall of 1999 to a stratified random sample of

over 66,000 uniformed personnel. DOD provided the final survey data to us

in late 2000.

 3 Military Personnel: Perceptions of Retention-Critical Personnel Are Similar to Those of

Other Enlisted Personnel (GAO-01-785, June 28, 2001).

Agency Comments

Scope and

Methodology
Page 5 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

To determine the satisfaction and retention intentions of first-term

enlisted personnel, mid-career enlisted personnel, and mid-career officers,

we had to define our target populations. We defined first-term enlisted

personnel as servicemembers in their first term of enlistment that had

served between 0 and 6 years of service and that were in the E-1 through

E-5 pay grades. Mid-career enlisted personnel included servicemembers in

the E-5 through E-7 pay grades with less than 13 years of service that were

not serving an initial enlistment. Mid-career officers included

servicemembers in the O-3 and O-4 pay grades with less than 13 years of

service that were not serving an initial obligation. For mid-career officers,

we eliminated personnel that had received their rank due to a special

appointment based on their occupation (e.g., legal officer, chaplains,

physicians, dentists, nurses, and veterinarians).

DOD periodically surveys active duty servicemembers about their opinions

of the military way of life; prior to 1999, the survey was last administered

in 1992. When the Department learned that the Subcommittee on Military

Personnel had asked us to administer a separate survey to military

personnel, the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense (Force Management

Policy) offered us the opportunity to include questions on the survey DOD

was planning to administer. We worked with DOD staff to refine the

survey and address additional aspects. The survey was pretested and

refined at Navy bases around Jacksonville, Florida; Pope Air Force Base,

Fayetteville, North Carolina; and the U.S. Marine base at Quantico,

Virginia. Time constraints prevented additional pretesting with Army and

Coast Guard personnel beyond that performed by DOD on an earlier

version of the survey.

The sample of 66,040 military members was drawn from a May 1999

population of 1,419,269 active duty DOD and U.S. Coast Guard personnel

that were below the rank of admiral or general and had at least 6 months

of service. The sample was stratified on five variables: service; pay grade;

gender; location (i.e., inside or outside the continental United States); and

marital status. DOD survey experts used response rates from prior surveys

to adjust the sample for groups with differing expected rates of survey

completion. Also, the sample was designed to provide varying levels of

precision for numerous subgroups (e.g., + 3 percentage points for each

service or pay grade group and + 5 percentage points for senior officers in

the Army). All findings presented in this report have a margin of error of +

6 percentage points, or less.

Definition of Target

Population

Development of DOD’s

Survey of Active Duty

Personnel

Construction of Sample

Respondents to Survey
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As of January 2000, DOD had received 37,119 surveys with at least some

questions answered. Some surveys were eliminated because they (1) had

been returned blank, (2) were duplicates from the same individual, or

(3) came from respondents that had left active duty before the fielding

period ended. The unweighted response rate was 56.2 percent. After

eliminating people that were ineligible to participate in the survey, DOD

computed a weighted response rate of 51 percent. DOD used a contractor

to administer the survey. We did not test the contractor’s procedures or

validate the data provided to us. We did review the quality control

procedures of DOD and its contractor for a similar large survey.

We weighted data to proportionally represent the target population. The

weights reflected (1) the probability of selection for that member, (2) an

adjustment for nonrespondents to minimize bias arising among

demographic subgroups, and (3) a post-stratification factor for September

1999—the month in which the questionnaire was first distributed.

In recent years, response rates on both military and civilian surveys have

decreased. Although weighting can adjust for differing response rates

within the sampling cells, it cannot adjust for possible differences between

those that did and did not respond to a survey. As with most surveys, there

is an implicit assumption that nonrespondents would have answered like

respondents. There is some risk of nonresponse bias, but it is not feasible

to test for this bias. It should be recognized that the active duty survey is

the only source of DOD-wide information for many issues, and it is far

more reliable than anecdotal information or information generated by

smaller, nonrepresentative samples.

We performed our work between July and November 2001 in accordance

with generally accepted government auditing standards.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional

committees; the Secretary of Defense; and the Under Secretary of Defense,

Personnel and Readiness. Copies will also be provided to other interested

parties upon request.

Survey Administration

Weighting Responses
Page 7 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me

at (202) 512-5559. An additional GAO contact and staff acknowledgments

are listed in appendix III.

Derek B. Stewart

Director

Defense Capabilities and Management
Briefing Section I: Overall Satisfaction With

Military Life and Retention Intentions

Page 8 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Note: Percentages may not add due to rounding.

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.

Briefing Section I: Overall Satisfaction With

Military Life and Retention Intentions
Briefing Section I: Overall Satisfaction With

Military Life and Retention Intentions

Page 9 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

On the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel, more first-term enlisted

personnel reported that they were dissatisfied (41 percent) than satisfied

(35 percent) with the military way of life. More mid-career enlisted

personnel and officers reported that they were satisfied than dissatisfied.

Fifty-two percent of mid-career enlisted personnel and 62 percent of

mid-career officers reported that they were satisfied, while 23 percent and

20 percent, respectively, indicated that they were dissatisfied.
Briefing Section I: Overall Satisfaction With

Military Life and Retention Intentions

Page 10 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.
Briefing Section I: Overall Satisfaction With

Military Life and Retention Intentions

Page 11 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

One survey question asked servicemembers their likelihood of staying on

active duty in the military if they had to decide at the time that they were

completing the survey. Sixty-two percent of mid-career enlisted personnel

and 63 percent of officers reported that they were likely to stay on active

duty; in contrast, 29 percent of first-term enlisted personnel reported that

they were likely to stay on active duty at the end of their current term.
Briefing Section I: Overall Satisfaction With

Military Life and Retention Intentions

Page 12 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty.
Briefing Section I: Overall Satisfaction With

Military Life and Retention Intentions

Page 13 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Another survey question asked military members to write in how many

years they plan to serve. Almost two-thirds of mid-career personnel

reported that they planned to serve 20 years or more, and about 14 percent

of first-term enlisted personnel reported that they planned to serve

20 years. Both measures of retention, including likelihood of staying on

active duty and of serving 20 years, must be put into context with the way

the Department of Defense (DOD) shapes its force. In effect, DOD aims to

keep successively smaller portions of personnel each year. According to

DOD actuarial records, about 15 percent of a typical group of new enlisted

personnel and 47 percent of officers serve 20 years on active duty.
Briefing Section II: Relationship of

Servicemembers’ Initial Reasons for Joining

the Military to Retention Intent

Page 14 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Table 1: Most Frequently Cited Reasons for Joining the Military

First-term enlisted Mid-career enlisted Mid-career officers

1. Education benefits (43%) 1. Education benefits (23%) 1. Serve country (39%)

2. Training for civilian

employment (18%)

2. Serve country (19%) 2. Education benefits (25%)

3. Travel and experiences

(18%)

3. Travel and experiences

(19%)

3. Challenging work (23%)

4. Personal growth (15%) 4. Job security (15%) 4. Attracted to the military

(16%)

5. Figure what to do (14%) 5. Get away (14%) 5. Specific occupation

(16%)

Note: The percentages add to more than 100 because we combined percentages for

servicemembers’ responses to their most important and second most important reasons for joining

the military.

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.

On the survey, respondents were asked to identify, from a list of 21

reasons, their 2 most important reasons for joining the military. We

combined the responses to determine the five reasons most frequently

cited for joining the military. First-term and mid-career enlisted personnel

most frequently indicated that they had joined the military for education

benefits. The military’s primary program of financial aid for education is

the Montgomery GI Bill. Unless they choose to withdraw from this

program, all eligible active duty military personnel are automatically

enrolled in the Montgomery GI Bill. Slightly more than half of the

servicemembers that contribute money to the program actually take

advantage of the benefits after they leave the military, according to the

Department of Veterans Affairs.

Mid-career officers recalled entering active duty for different reasons.

Overall, 39 percent reported that they had joined the military because of a

desire to serve their country. Two other reasons most frequently cited by

mid-career officers were education benefits (25 percent) and challenging

or interesting work (23 percent).

Briefing Section II: Relationship of

Servicemembers’ Initial Reasons for Joining

the Military to Retention Intent
Briefing Section II: Relationship of

Servicemembers’ Initial Reasons for Joining

the Military to Retention Intent

Page 15 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.

First-term enlisted personnel’s reasons for joining the military appear to be

related to the likelihood that they would stay in or leave active duty. Those

that entered for education benefits tended to be less likely to stay on

active duty than those that entered for other reasons. Specifically,

60 percent of first-term enlisted personnel that entered active duty for

education benefits were unlikely to stay.
Briefing Section II: Relationship of

Servicemembers’ Initial Reasons for Joining

the Military to Retention Intent

Page 16 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.
Briefing Section II: Relationship of

Servicemembers’ Initial Reasons for Joining

the Military to Retention Intent

Page 17 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Mid-career personnel’s reasons for joining the military appear to be related

to the likelihood that they would stay for 20 years. Those that entered for

education benefits were less likely to indicate that they intend to serve

20 years than those that joined for other reasons. A little over half

(51 percent) of mid-career enlisted personnel that joined the military for

education benefits said they were likely to serve 20 years. And, a lower

percentage of mid-career enlisted personnel that reported entering active

duty for education benefits indicated they were likely to serve 20 years

than the overall percentage of mid-career enlisted personnel that reported

that they would be likely to serve 20 years on active duty (63 percent).
Briefing Section II: Relationship of

Servicemembers’ Initial Reasons for Joining

the Military to Retention Intent

Page 18 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.
Briefing Section II: Relationship of

Servicemembers’ Initial Reasons for Joining

the Military to Retention Intent

Page 19 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

For mid-career enlisted personnel, reasons for joining the military appear

to be related to the likelihood that mid-career officers would stay for

20 years. For example, those that reported joining for the opportunity to

work in a specific occupation were less likely to intend to serve 20 years

than those that joined for other top reasons. Only 46 percent of mid-career

officers that reported joining for the opportunity to work in a specific

occupation said they were likely to serve 20 years. In addition, a lower

percentage of mid-career officers that reported joining for this reason

indicated they were likely to serve 20 years than the overall percentage of

mid-career officers that reported that they would be likely to serve

20 years on active duty (66 percent).
Briefing Section III: Reasons Cited for

Leaving the Military

Page 20 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Table 2: Most Frequently Cited Reasons for Leaving or Considering Leaving the

Military

First-term enlisted Mid-career enlisted Mid-career officers

1. Basic pay (45%) 1. Basic pay (41%) 1. Amount of personal and

family time (24%)

2. Amount of personal and

family time (17%)

2. Retirement pay (19%) 2. Basic pay (23%)

3. Quality of leadership

(17%)

3. Amount of personal and

family time (15%)

3. Job enjoyment (17%)

4. Job enjoyment (15%) 4. Quality of leadership

(13%)

4. Quality of leadership

(17%)

5. Deployments (10%) 5. Pace of promotions

(13%)

5. Retirement pay (15%)

Note: The percentages add to more than 100 because we combined percentages for

servicemembers’ responses to their most important and second most important reasons for leaving

the military.

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.

The 1999 survey asked active duty respondents to rate 37 aspects of

military life on a scale from very satisfied to very dissatisfied. Respondents

were also asked to identify which of the 37 aspects were their most and

second most important reasons for leaving or considering leaving the

military. We combined these reasons to determine servicemembers’ top

five most frequently cited reasons for leaving or considering leaving active

duty.

First-term and mid-career enlisted personnel most often cited basic pay as

the most important reason for leaving or considering leaving the military.

About the same percentages of first-term (45 percent) and mid-career

enlisted personnel (41 percent) responded that basic pay was the top

reason to leave the military. For mid-career officers, amount of personal

and family time (24 percent) was cited as the most important reason for

leaving or considering leaving the military. However, basic pay was also

among the top reasons for leaving or considering leaving the military, cited

by 23 percent of the officers.

In addition to determining the top five reasons for leaving or considering

leaving the military, we determined how individual aspects of military life

related to retention intent. We found that no single aspect, alone, was a

good predictor of retention. Thus, it should not be concluded that pay,

alone, is causing members to leave. Overall, basic pay was cited as a top

Briefing Section III: Reasons Cited for

Leaving the Military
Briefing Section III: Reasons Cited for

Leaving the Military

Page 21 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

reason to leave, but it was also cited by servicemembers as a top reason to

stay.1

The best predictor of retention for first-term enlisted and mid-career

personnel was overall satisfaction with the military way of life. DOD noted

a similar finding in its analysis of the previous active duty survey,

administered in 1992. At that time, DOD reported that overall satisfaction

with the military way of life had the strongest association with career

intentions of any of the explanatory variables tested from the survey.2

 1 Military Personnel: Preliminary Results of DOD’s 1999 Survey of Active Duty Members

(GAO/T-NSIAD-00-110, Mar. 8, 2000).

2 The Military as a Career: Results from the 1992 DOD Surveys of Officers and Enlisted

Personnel and Military Spouses (Defense Manpower Data Center Report No. 97-006).
Briefing Section III: Reasons Cited for

Leaving the Military

Page 22 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.
Briefing Section III: Reasons Cited for

Leaving the Military

Page 23 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

We determined that members of the three groups that were satisfied with

the overall military way of life were more likely to serve 20 years on active

duty service than those that were dissatisfied. First-term enlisted

personnel that reported that they were satisfied with the overall military

way of life were more likely to serve 20 years (29 percent) than those that

were dissatisfied (3 percent). According to the survey, mid-career

personnel, both enlisted and officers, were significantly more likely to

intend to serve 20 years on active duty than were first-term enlisted

personnel, and their intention to stay was linked to overall satisfaction

with military life. Almost 80 percent of mid-career enlisted personnel that

were satisfied with the overall military way of life reported that they were

likely to serve 20 years, compared to 33 percent of those that were

dissatisfied. Mid-career officers that were satisfied with the overall

military way of life reported that they were much more likely to serve

20 years (81 percent) than those that were dissatisfied (27 percent).
Briefing Section IV: Servicemembers’

Perceptions of Civilian Life Relative to

Military Life

Page 24 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.

Briefing Section IV: Servicemembers’

Perceptions of Civilian Life Relative to

Military Life

Perceptions that Civilian Life Is Better Than

Military Life
Briefing Section IV: Servicemembers’

Perceptions of Civilian Life Relative to

Military Life

Page 25 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

In 1999, when the survey was administered, first-term and mid-career

enlisted personnel and mid-career officers generally perceived

opportunities in civilian life more favorably than those in military life.

When asked to rate compensation and quality of life issues on the survey,

personnel in each group overwhelmingly perceived civilian opportunities

as being better on 4 of 10 factors. Around 70 percent or more of each of

the three groups believed that civilian (1) total compensation,

(2) personal/family time, (3) quality of life, and (4) hours worked per week

were better than those offered by the military. However, servicemembers’

perceptions may have changed since the survey was administered in 1999

due to a slowing economy and significant recent pay raises.
Briefing Section IV: Servicemembers’

Perceptions of Civilian Life Relative to

Military Life

Page 26 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Source: Responses to the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel.

Perceptions That Military Life Is Better

Than Civilian Life
Briefing Section IV: Servicemembers’

Perceptions of Civilian Life Relative to

Military Life

Page 27 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Even during the strong economy of the late 1990s, first-term and midcareer enlisted personnel and mid-career officers perceived three types of

opportunities as more favorable in the military than in civilian life. These

aspects were vacation time, a sense of accomplishment and pride, and

education and training opportunities.
Appendix I: Recent Reports Concerning

DOD’s 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel

Page 28 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

We have recently issued several reports on the findings from the 1999

Survey of Active Duty Personnel in relation to retention. DOD and

Congress have expressed concern with the ability to attract and retain

high-quality personnel and have sought information on this issue. Table 3

provides a summary of our reports that address military retention issues

based on results from the survey.

Table 3: Recent Reports Concerning DOD’s 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel

Title Findings

Military Personnel: Longer Time Between

Moves Related to Higher Satisfaction and

Retention (GAO-01-841, Aug. 3, 2001)

In August 2001, we reported that the time between permanent change of station

moves (i.e., moves of their families and household goods) was related to satisfaction

and retention intent. Personnel with shorter times between moves were less likely to

be satisfied with the military way of life. Also, the shorter the average time between

moves, the more likely the member’s spouse or significant other was to favor the

member leaving the military.

Military Personnel: Perceptions of RetentionCritical Personnel are Similar to Those of

Other Enlisted Personnel (GAO-01-785, June

28, 2001)

In June 2001, we reported that personnel in retention-critical occupations were not

being “pushed out” of the military at a greater rate than were other enlisted personnel.

Rather, to the extent that they possess marketable skills, these personnel are more

likely to leave the military for more attractive civilian opportunities.

Military Personnel: Higher Allowances

Should Increase Use of Civilian Housing, but

Not Retention (GAO-01-684, May 31, 2001)

In May 2001, we reported that DOD could not expect a substantial increase in

retention based solely on increasing housing allowances. Because less than 1 percent

of personnel surveyed cited housing and housing allowances as a reason for leaving

or considering leaving the military, increasing housing allowances would not have a

significant impact on retention.

Military Personnel: Full Extent of Support to

Civil Authorities Unknown but Unlikely to

Adversely Impact Retention (GAO-01-9,

Jan. 26, 2001)

In January 2001, we reported that providing assistance to civil authorities did not

appear to affect retention negatively and that overall, retention had remained relatively

stable over the last decade. A discussion with select military units with high

deployment rates and frequent participation in support to civil entities indicated that

assignments that involved support to civil authorities had very little impact on retention.

Military Personnel: Preliminary Results of

DOD’s 1999 Survey of Active Duty Members

(GAO/T-NSIAD-00-110, Mar. 8, 2000)

In March 2000, we reported that various aspects of military life interact to determine

servicemembers’ decisions to stay in or leave the military. The retention decision is

complex and highly personal, and servicemembers use a summation of their own

individual experiences, their perceptions of military and civilian opportunities, and their

overall personal and family well-being when deciding whether to stay in or leave the

military.

Appendix I: Recent Reports Concerning

DOD’s 1999 Survey of Active Duty Personnel
Appendix II: Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 29 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

Appendix II: Comments From the

Department of Defense
Appendix III: Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

Page 30 GAO-02-200 Military Personnel

John Pendleton (404) 679-1816

In addition to the contact named above, William Beusse, Jack Edwards,

Aisha Mahmood, Matthew Ullengren, and Kristy Williams made important

contributions to this report.

Appendix III: Contact and Staff

Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Acknowledgments

(350102)
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